


Coda

by pocketmouse



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Exit Wounds, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-04-05
Updated: 2008-04-05
Packaged: 2017-10-02 03:36:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pocketmouse/pseuds/pocketmouse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's dark.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coda

It's dark.

He strains his eyes, but there's nothing there, an unending dark that presses in on all sides and at the same time spills out, empty, around him, a vacuum. The sensation -- _lack of sensation_ \-- makes him nauseous _(but not in body, he has no body, oh god, it burned away)_.

It's dark.

It's familiar.

_Hell, who can say that?_ he thinks, already knowing of one -- two -- people who can.

"Owen?" That voice -- familiar, a comfort in his ear, constant -- he whirls around _(but what turns, there's nothing to turn, nothing to see with, nothing to_ see_)_ \-- and there she is.

"Tosh." She's running towards him, arms stretched out. _How? When? How?_ She looks perfectly fine, no sign of anything wrong -- even her arm is unslinged, and he grips her tight, tighter than he ought to.

"Toshiko, what --?" _You little sneak, you said you were fine --_

She's shaking her head, drawing back, looking at him properly _(how can she see in the dark? how can he see?)_. "It's all right, we did it, that's what matters."

He chokes on his words _(was he breathing again? what is there to breathe?)_. "I didn't know."

She smiles. "I didn't want you to." He's still gripping her by the elbows, and she pats his chest once, softly, and he can feel her hand over his chest -- there's no wound. "You can be pretty dense sometimes."

_"--just a machine malfunction --"_

"But," she says, bright, as if nothing is wrong -- _though he can see the tenseness at the corners of her eyes, she's holding back_ \-- "This time, you're going to have to be the guide." His heartbeat _(heartbeat?)_ quickens.

She always thinks so much of him. He was only here the once, lost -- _stumbling, confused, something swirling around him, there's something in the darkness_ \-- in the dark.

_There's something in the dark._

There's nothing.

He waits.

Listens.

Nothing.

It's just the two of them.

He's not alone.

His hand slides down her arm _(undamaged now, the both of them)_, gripping her hand tightly, not willing to let go in this place, not even for an instant. He could be wrong. He's been wrong before.

She grips him back.

"Whaddaya say we go looking, then, Tosh? You and me, Torchwood -- aliens, bogeyman, and all that." He's being daft, like always, but she knows this, and smiles up at him.

"I'd like that. Show up Jack on this one, eh?" Her grin splits her face, and he knows the one he wears is matching.

"Let's go then."

 

_fin_


End file.
